Soup kitchen celebrating new facility in Port Huron

Julia Szczygier, a volunteer at Mid City Nutrition, serves food Tuesday, Sept. 5, 2017. The soup kitchen will be celebrating its 30th anniversary a day after breaking ground for a new facility.(Photo: Brian M. Wells/Times Herald)Buy Photo

Mid City Nutrition will be celebrating its 30th anniversary a day after the groundbreaking of a new facility at 830 Griswold St., Port Huron.

The new facility is about three blocks from the soup kitchen's current home in the basement at St. Martin Lutheran Church, 805 Chestnut St.

"That was our goal when we were looking for a building, to make sure we were staying in this area," said Dawn Jackson, director of Mid City Nutrition. "We were lucky to find this building at 830 Griswold."

The groundbreaking will be 4 p.m. Sept. 13; the soup kitchen opened its doors to the community on Sept. 14, 1987.

"The need continues to grow. ... We can't meet the needs of our clientele here."

She said the estimated cost of the new soup kitchen is $650,000. Mid City Nutrition has about $205,000 in the bank, she said, and has pledges of another $100,000 from the Port Huron's share of federal housing dollars and $10,000 from a private donor.

Both of those funding sources are contingent on Mid City raising matching dollars, Jackson said.

She said Blue Water Habitat for Humanity is the general contractor for the project, and architect William Vogan of Port Huron is drafting the plans for the facility at no charge.

The new facility will be able to seat more diners and will have two kitchens, Jackson said.

"One of the things I've faced with the clients is they want to take food home," Jackson said, explaining the leftover food often consists of vegetables or fruits the clients don't know how to prepare.

"We want to work with our clients about how to utilize the resources we provide for them," she said.

Jackson pointed to the tsunami of tomatoes flowing into the soup kitchen during August and the first part of September.

"What can we do with the tomato other that cut it up and eat it?" she said.

The soup kitchen during fiscal 2015-16 served 63,925 meals — that's a number Jackson has memorized.

"There are a lot of individuals here who are on a very fixed income," she said. "Some of the individuals who come down here receive $15 a month in food assistance.

"How can you feed yourself on $15 a month?"

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People line up to get food at Mid City Nutrition Tuesday, Sept. 5, 2017. The soup kitchen will be celebrating its 30th anniversary a day after breaking ground for a new facility.(Photo: Brian M. Wells/Times Herald)

Laurie Erwin, a Mid City board member, said the soup kitchen fills a need.

"I think it's important because of the number of people it serves each day," she said.

Mid City will have a fundraiser at 11 a.m. Sept. 30 for its new building. Called "30 for 30," Erwin said she hopes to have 30 people doing 30 yoga poses on stand-up paddleboards for 30 minutes.

The event will be on the Black River between the Zebra Bar and Chemical Bank, she said.

"It's something certainly that's not been done before," she said.

"What we're trying to do is show people there are a lot of innovative ways to raise money in this community."

She said the event is apropos of the challenges some people face to feed themselves.

"There's a fine balance when you're standing on a paddleboard in the middle of a river doing a yoga pose and there's just that fine of a balance, you can go either way, between being hungry and not being hungry," Erwin said.

Mid City Nutrition also shared more than 2,000 meals with other organizations including Literacy and Beyond, SONS and Huron House, Jackson said.

She said many of the soup kitchen's clients help out with meals and general cleanup.

"I'm impressed at how many say, 'How can I help you?

"'You helped me; how can I help you?'"

Contact Bob Gross at (810) 989-6263 or rgross@gannett.com. Follow him on Twitter @RobertGross477.

If You Go

A groundbreaking ceremony for a new Mid City Nutrition facility will be at 4 p.m. Sept. 13 at 830 Griswold, Port Huron. Light refreshments will be served.

A special event, 30 for 30, will be at 11 a.m. Sept. 30 in the Black River between the Zebra Bar and Chemical Bank. Participants will be doing 30 yoga poses in 30 minutes on stand-up paddle boards.